Thanks Mosc, Inventor and Captain Clams. This forum inspires me daily...
Here is the latest module for the Lunetta Guitar. Most complicated one yet. Took me a few days to complete.
Its a Dual VCO with SwitchGated Hi/Lo caps. It fired up and worked perfectly first run!
Will post up a vid here when I get around to it.

Like most people here I've soldered quite a bit over the years and you're work is some of the finest I've ever seen. Thanks for taking the time to upload your work!_________________There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
Hunter S. Thompsonmoviesnoise

Thanks a lot Doug and Tjookum, I however still have lots to learn.
CC, I take great care when laying out the wiring that nothing is touching and build it in a way that they flex away from their closest neighbour (if that makes sense). Ive come up with some construction tricks to stop shorts.

i love the whole thing - your ability to plan stuff is amazing. i'd love to hear more of the music - maybe you can put more up on soundcloud or something._________________http://soundcloud.com/douglasmseidel

Here is a pic of my most recent Sculpture.
Not so much freeform, but definately no PCBs nor perfboard.
Its a 4017/4051 Melody Generator on a papercircuit with hand laid copper tape traces. Its a bit glitchy, in a not so good way, ATM. I think there are some traces touching somewhere. I hope to do more of this if I can find the time.

That's friggen brilliant, I hope you can fix it, some of those corners look suspect to me. Perhaps a fiddly method but a brilliant one for making interesting and pretty circuits nevertheless

P.S. quite inspiring too, I'm thinking of ways to make one's own PCB now in unusual methods _________________As a mad scientist I am ruled by the dictum of science: "I could be wrong about this but lets find out"

The corners were folded back on themselves so they were actually continuous tape, I isolated the problem to being the UV setting gel that I used for the bridges... It turns out it was slightly conductive. Im currently looking for an alternative and tidy method of overlapping the copper tape outside of using clear cellotape...

Ive been working on a lot of other stuff recently, will document it on the Lunetta forum as I find the time but while Im in this thread here is something I made for my niece's birthday present.
A freeformed 40106 + LDR Light Globe Synth

That is mervelous Looks very mad-science
It must have been difficult to make it fit into that bulb, excellent precision work there _________________As a mad scientist I am ruled by the dictum of science: "I could be wrong about this but lets find out"

Always so nice to receive such warm support from you guys here. Thankyou.
I really dont know what my life would be without Lunetta now, I think about this stuff 24/7.
Here is the latest module for the Lunetta guitar. Not sure I can name what it is but I can explain what it does.
I wanted to add more complexity to the plucking of the strings and have the ability to turn the plucker motors off aswell.
With the switch in the up position, the guitar runs as normal :ie each of the 8 motors are live/triggered as normal. Switch in the center turns motors off. Switch down allows the normal triggering to be turned on and off via gates into a 4066.
I imagine an lfo through a divider and the outputs used to bring the motors online and off to add some space, open up compositions with some periods of silence, then bursts of activity...
Momentary switch can be used to manually trigger the plucking.
2 4bit R2R DACs each through a slewing pot to take some CV for future filters and VCAs.
"8Band auto-switching motor gate modulating Duo 4bit Slewed CV source"
As you can imagine it took a while to make. It works and is already fitted on the guitar. Video soon.

Yes, to call it a Modulator was wrong, Interrupt is indeed what it does so Ill take your advice JJ.
@ Doug, I guess I just plan placement as I go along, making sure nothing is obscured or touching, Ive been lucky that nothing has needed alteration after construction. It is laid out logically and spends a long time on the breadboard before making it to freeform.
Thanks Mosc, I dont use anything to remove the flux. If there is a build up I can pick it off with my nail.

This module has really opened up so many possibilities for the Lunetta Guitar. I can sit with it for hours and be entranced, as you all can sympathize with. I have now decided on what the next module is... The open strings sustain for a long time which is nice but I want the ability to dampen the strings so... you heard it here first.

the construction, the sounds, the variation, bravo!_________________There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
Hunter S. Thompsonmoviesnoise

I havent checked in here for a while... Too many projects, Lunetta is just one.
Anyway, I made a video that you may enjoy. Im still working on the Solenoid String Dampening Delay Module, hope to have it done soon.

Your creations are amazing! Part instrument, part work of art (I've seen FAR less exciting work in the various Tates in London). One "technical" question: do you use pickups on the strings, or is it purely acoustic? I love the way that the strings are actuated BTW.

Thanks Gary.
You know it really is great that through this forum people with similar interests can brainstorm, inspire and encourage. Without it, I would feel quite alone stuck in my shed...

Initially I wound my own pickups for each string, they are still on the instrument, about halfway along the neck... They are disconnected ATM because I need to build preamps for each one.
If you look at the short string at centre shot of the video, just at the cross member there is a dark hard wood bridge. Under the bridge you can see a piezo squeezed in there. Each string has the same and they are mixed at the bottom to left and right channels.

Mind you this video was recorded acoustically with binaural microphones straight into the camera... I was experimenting with natural stereo recording.

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